April 23, 2021 - “You are the elite group! you are the most serious! ” CSA President, Ms. Zenet Maramara, stated as she emphasized that participants of Part 2 of the Growing Local Giving for Sustainable Fundraising Workshop are close to her heart, as out of the 96 participants from part 1 last February 5, 30 participants attended part 2 of the webinar which signified their commitment to growing their organization’s local giving.  

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“How about (growing) local resources to fund (local ministries)?” CSA Ambassador and Emcee of the webinar, Mr. Efren Pallorina, noted as he opened the webinar and reminded that the webinar’s takeaway should be productive and fun. 

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CSA President, Ms. Zenet Maramara, during the plenary session, points to the Apostle's Paul exhortation to excel in the ministry of giving (II Corinthians 8:7). She shared that when an organization does local fundraising, it creates greater credibility, accountability, transparency, integrity, and a wider support base for a ministry or project. Also, Dr. Zenet added that at the core of local fundraising is to have long-term sustainability through a diversity of income sources.

 

“Turuan natin ang mga Filipino na mag-excel on the ministry of giving… turuan natin sila to get into the habit of giving to causes that are worthy e.g. children-at-risk, trafficked women and other causes. (Let's teach Filipinos to excel on the ministry of giving… let's teach them to get into the habit of giving to causes that are worthy e.g. children-at-risk, trafficked women, and other causes.)” Ms. Zenet emphasized why it is essential to connect with Filipinos on giving, to support ministries. 

 

As the webinar focused on practical steps, three workshops were conducted. These are opportunities for the participants to accomplish outputs on the following: Workshop 1 tackled on How to keep and nurture your current donors, and how to acquire new ones? Workshop 2 is on how professionals do their fundraising strategies using gift range; Workshop 3 is on Creating Communication strategies for approaching major donors, core donors, and mass donors.

 

Workshop participants were grouped into five to six persons per group. The workshops were facilitated by Ms. Dot Velardo, Ms. Ruthie Cristobal, Mr. Jun Godornes, Mr. Dabs Liban, Ms. Liza Zate, Ms. Carol Roa, Ms. Precious Basco and Mr. Efren Pallorina.

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An unplugged session of the webinar ensued where, CSA Board Member, Mr. David “Dabs” Liban, discussed tips and strategies on Creating Effective Partner Communication. Mr. Liban stated that in growing local givers, understanding effective tips and strategies in crafting your message content is important to build a continuum, from start to finish of fundraising. He differentiated that the communication strategies on keeping current donors are different from the communication strategies in acquiring new ones. 

 

“You are reinforcing the ideas that hindi lang pala para sa mayayaman ang pagbibigay, but also to people like me, an ordinary citizen… it reinforces the idea that giving is a common trait of the Filipinos, maximizing this (sic) is one way of growing local giving in our country.” Mr. Liban stated as he ended his talk on the tips and strategies for communicating with donors.

 

PCMN and CSA hosted Part 2 of the Growing Local Giving on Sustainable Fundraising to continue its partnership in providing a platform to teach ministry leaders and workers the next steps to grow their local giving. Stay tuned for the next webinar with CSA and PCMN.

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